Way Back When?

"The times you lived through, the people you shared those times with -- nothing brings it all to life like and old mix tape. It does a better job at storing up memories than actual brain tissue can do. Every mix tape has a story. Put them together, and they can add up the story of a life." - Rob Sheffield

       Before I begin to blog about old music and new music, rock bands and boy bands, guitars and pianos, I thought I'd start with a history lesson. Well, not exactly a lesson, just some information on where my love for music originated from. 
       My entire family sprouted from musical roots. I don't know exactly how many generations ago but what I do know is that I'm certainly not the first one. I have an incredibly long list of musicians in my family and it probably dates back to when cavemen used narrow sticks to scrape against hollow tree trunks.
       I promise I will make this quick and partially interesting. My granduncle on my mothers side was named Diogo Fleury and he didn't take ONE music lesson his entire life. He became a composer in his early 30's and wrote a several books about music theory. Both of my grandfathers were the same way- they never had one music lesson but played the piano, guitar and practically any instrument they picked up,perfectly.
       My parents are music freaks as well, I'm almost positive that's why my brother and I became so passionate towards music. We've been listening to samba and rock and roll ever since we were in the womb.
       My brother, who is three years older than I am, is the leading cause of my atypical music taste. My father always says, "If it weren't for your brother, you would be lost in the music industry." 
       We see eye to eye. If we're together then we are either listening to some tunes or horrifically belting out lyrics from any and every song we know while trying to not burst each other's eardrums. He's influenced my taste in music and helped my pick up my first guitar.
       I started playing about three years ago once I picked up on how talented he was. I assumed if he could do it then why couldn't I? I'm not going into detail about what I play because I have far too much to say about it, I'll leave it for another day. 
       The reason I picked today's quote was because music has an undeniable power to bring a society together and that's exactly why it affected my family so much. The best memories I can recall from my early childhood has some sort of musical relation. For example, I remember sitting on my friend's porch when we were about 6 while listening to a mix tape that my uncle made me. I didn't have an Ipod and YouTube was not created at that time so that one cassette tape was all we had. It was on replay for several months until we could no longer listen to the repetitive lyrics and guitar riffs. 
      Music is a form of lifestyle for my family. It has brought us all closer together and shaped me into the person that I am today.